As host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil is gearing up for its moment in the international spotlight. That doesn't mean the global community, and America in particular, isn't already enamored with Brazilian culture. Consider its list of exports: samba, bossa nova, Pelé, capoeira, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Gui Boratto, churrascarias, and even supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Then there's the fact that in 2012 more than one million people flocked to Rio de Janeiro for its legendary Carnaval, with 32 percent of those visitors coming from outside Brazil. It's time for South America's largest and most populous country to shine.
Cachaça, Brazil's sugarcane-based spirit, has been quietly spreading its liquid goodwill as the main ingredient in Caipirinhas, but we think it's primed to become Brazil's best ambassador yet. Earlier this year the United States began the process to recognize cachaça as a distinctive liquor, rather than simply labeling it "Brazilian rum," and exporters are hopeful this bit of international relations will increase sales to match the growing demand. Just this spring, multinational beverage company Diageo bought Ypióca, Brazil's third-largest cachaça brand. But the exportation of its national spirit isn't limited to big brands. In early 2013, the Carmo, Rio de Janeiro state–based Avuá will launch its line of small-batch (less than 20,000 liters per year), single-sourced cachaça, made by Katia Espírito Santo, one of Brazil's few female distillers.
For the story behind Avuá, plus advice on shopping for, cooking with, and perhaps most important, drinking cachaça, we spoke to Avuá cofounder Nate Whitehouse. A lawyer and self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur," Whitehouse had no professional experience in the spirits world when a fortuitous taste of cachaça led he and his partners, also liquor-industry novices, to visit and fall in love with Brazil, and ultimately to found Avuá.
Gourmet Live: What does Avuá mean, and what is the story behind the company?
Nate Whitehouse: Avuá comes from the Portuguese word voar, which means to fly. [The company] was started by three friends, Pete Nevenglosky, Mark Christou, and myself. During a storm in early winter 2009, a friend from Rio invited us to join her at Miss Favela, a botequim—a Brazilian bar—in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We trudged through the snow to this ramshackle wooden structure. The door opened onto a lively scene of happy Brazilians and people from all over the world, dancing samba, drinking Caipirinhas and Brazilian beers, and eating grilled meats and feijoada, a traditional Brazilian stew. A bartender had us taste an artisanal cachaça, and we all looked at one another and thought, What a thrill.
We decided that we needed to explore more of Brazil, and took some time to visit some of the farms and distilleries in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. The core artisanal cachaça-producing region is in the interior state of Minas Gerais. It's known for experimenting with aging in different kinds of woods and the attention to production methods. In addition, the area near Rio named Paraty is a famous artisanal cachaça-producing region. However, all across Brazil there are small farms producing unique cachaças, including São Paulo state.
We were introduced to a Brazilian mixologist, André Cerqueira. Without knowing us at all, he generously drove us to 30 different cachaça producers. During this drive we met Katia Espírito Santo, Avuá's master distiller. We fell in love with her warmth and sincerity, as well as the quality of her spirit. We sat in a café and hatched the idea of bringing a handmade artisanal cachaça to the U.S. with a brand that really expressed what was unique about Brazil—the thrill of discovering new adventures, and the warmth and elegance of the people. Everything just kind of evolved from there.
GL: Avuá is a single-sourced cachaça. Where does the sugarcane come from?
NW: All of Avuá's sugarcane is grown by Katia on Fazenda da Quinta, a farm in Carmo, about four hours north of Rio de Janeiro. The farm was purchased by her grandfather, Francisco Alves, in 1923, and Francisco passed his passion for cachaça distillation to his son, José Ramos Alves. José Alves produced cachaça through the early part of the 21st century, before passing the production to his oldest daughter, Katia, who was born on the farm and really made Fazenda da Quinta what it is today.
GL: Is there such a thing as terroir for cachaça?
NW: Just as wine grapes have terroir, so does sugarcane. With cachaça, there are two ways we look at terroir. First, in the types of sugarcane selected to produce the cachaça, which differs regionally and is selected based on the preference of the producer. Second, based on whether [or not] airborne yeast is used. One of the things about artisanal cachaça—including Avuá—is that the yeast comes from the air surrounding the farm. There are numerous species and subspecies of yeast across the globe, and many have special characteristics that give rise to different flavor profiles across the fermentation or bread-baking process. That is one of the reasons for terroir in alcohol production, as any great Belgian beer brewer would tell us.
In addition, the incline of the land and altitude of the sugarcane affects how much sun the cachaça receives and has a direct effect on the concentration of the sugar within the cane. More sun generally means a higher concentration of sugar, but that doesn't necessarily mean a better cachaça. It's having the right balance of sugar.
GL: Can you explain the distillation process?
NW: With a keen eye toward economy and sustainability, Katia researched cachaça production extensively, ultimately designing a facility that seeks to minimize the amount of labor and electricity involved in the production process while maintaining rigorous quality standards.
To plant the cane in the hills around the farm, rather than using an electric plow, Katia employs two bulls, named Mark and Roberto, to pull the plow. The cane is harvested by hand, bundled, and brought down the hill to the distillery. The distillation process is innovative and sustainable, requiring electricity only to move the spirit from the distillation facility to the storage and bottling facilities—water and fire power, along with gravity, facilitate the distillation process.
Following the harvesting of the sugarcane, a spring-fed waterwheel is used to crush the cane and extract the juice, which is then directly fermented and distilled into cachaça. That is one of the unique things about cachaça, and one of its key differentiators from rum—that it's produced directly from sugarcane juice rather than molasses.
The crushed bagasse (residue) from the crushed cane falls to the granary below, where it is dried and used to fire the still and feed the cattle. The extracted juice is fermented with yeast, forming a type of "beer". The fermentation process occurs until this substance reaches sufficient alcoholic content, which takes about 24 hours, at which point the fermented product is filtered through to the still, leaving the yeast behind.
The copper pot stills are similar to those used in producing Cognac. Employing traditional methods, Katia extracts the "heart" of the still, which contains ethanol and flavor compounds. The distillate is cut with pure spring-fed water sourced from the same spring used to power the waterwheel. The Prata rests in stainless-steel barrels for six months, while the Amburana is aged in amburana wood for at least 24 months before being hand-bottled and labeled by Katia on the farm. Brazilian cachaça producers are endlessly innovative, aging cachaças in more than 20 different varieties of wood. Amburana is a wood native to South America, similar to a cherrywood, with a fragrant nose compared to licorice, cinnamon, almonds, and Thai basil.
GL: What are the tasting notes for Avuá's two cachaças, Prata and Amburana?
NW: The Prata is vegetal and dry, with a mild sugarcane nose. It mixes well with dry drinks and vermouth. The Amburana is smoother, with a milder vegetal flavor. The aroma is rather unique, with flavors of Thai basil, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla. You can mix it with other spirits like Champagne, or drink it neat like an aperitif or fine whisky.
GL: What's the secret to making the perfect Caipirinha?
NW: The secret is in the quality of the limes. Unfortunately, the fruit we get in the U.S. is not the same as it is in Brazil. Brazilians have numerous varieties of limes, with different colors, pulpiness, and aromas. Interestingly, they don't differentiate between limes and lemons. Lemons [in Brazil] are in fact called "Sicilian limes." The closest we have to the variety of lime used in Caipirinhas is the Key lime. Try to get the best-quality lime you can. The juiciness of the lime is the most important factor; using ripe limes is also very important. In addition, remove the white interior pith from the limes to reduce bitterness in the Caipirinha.
GL: Besides Caipirinhas, are there other great cocktails to make with cachaça?
NW: Absolutely. A friend of ours, Michael Neff from Ward III [in New York], has developed a version of the Whiskey Sour featuring the Amburana. In both New York and Rio, bartenders have experimented by mixing a number of unique Brazilian ingredients with cachaça. For example, Michael has developed a cocktail using muddled malagueta peppers, fresh lime, triple sec, and a smoky salt rim. More traditional cocktails include batidas, which are made with condensed milk and fruits like passionfruit and cashew fruit, as well as other tropical fruits like soursop. And of course, a great variant on the Caipirinha is its original recipe from the 1500s, which was used to cure sicknesses and featured muddled limes, cachaça, honey, and whole garlic cloves.
GL: Can you cook with cachaça?
NW: Cachaça is terrifically versatile in the kitchen. In Brazil, cachaça is used to marinate meat, particularly pork and steak. In the Brazilian countryside, it's frequently used in handmade candies. In general terms, cachaça can be used as a spice to impart a wood flavor to dishes, or to break down meat fibers. Chefs in Brazil are experimenting with a tincture of our Amburana cachaça, and we've experimented with it as an injection for smoked Texas brisket.
GL: Do cachaça or cachaça-based cocktails go well with food?
NW: Cachaça pairs exceedingly well with all sorts of dishes. Our Amburana and Prata also make great aperitifs thanks to their dry finish. Drinks like the Caipirinha, which has a citrus base, tend to pair well with foods like ceviche, while neat cachaça goes quite well with grilled meats. Cachaça itself can also be used as a digestif or even as a dessert [drink]. In dessert pairings, Amburana goes very well with bolo de rolo, the jam-filled, multilayered sponge cake dessert famous in the northeast of Brazil. It also goes well with guava desserts, dulce de leche, or any chocolate dessert.
GL: Can you offer any tips on shopping for cachaça?
NW: Shopping for cachaça in the U.S. is hard, because even though the market is growing, it's not easy to find the really interesting stuff. It depends what you are looking for. Obviously we think our cachaça is great, as it is different than other cachaças—it's certainly drier than many others.
A good unaged cachaça should have a mild sugarcane nose and offer a rich vegetal aroma. There should be very little alcohol burn, and there should be no additional sugar added to sweeten the flavor. It should be clean and fresh. Aged cachaças have an incredible variety of flavor profiles due to the variety of woods. They should have an entrancing mixture of aromas ranging from vanilla from oak, to the basil, flowery, and winter spice aromas from the Brazilian woods, to a mild color and taste from the lighter Brazilian woods like ipe.
When shopping, ask where the cane comes from. Is it hand-produced or machine-produced? There is a very wide difference in taste between handmade cachaça and industrial cachaça, which would likely be labeled aguardente in Brazil but might be labeled cachaça in the U.S. Aguardente is generally machine-distilled and can have added sugar, which leads to a hangover. It's also not subject to the same quality controls as the handmade cachaça. Some aguardentes are made in the same stills used to produce ethanol for cars in Brazil, which causes some consumers to misunderstand the high quality level of good cachaça and [gives cachaça] an unfair reputation in some circles as firewater. Real cachaça should be a clean distillate, with delicate aromas, a sugarcane character, but without any cloying flavors in the mouth, and should leave you feeling good in the morning.